Paying for a sewer scope before closing saved me from a $20k problem

When we were under contract for a house in a nice older neighborhood, our inspector suggested a sewer line scope. It cost about $250, which felt like a lot on top of everything else. I almost skipped it, but my gut said to do it. The guy found a section of the old clay pipe that was completely collapsed about 15 feet from the house. He showed me the camera feed, and it was just a wall of dirt. The seller had no idea. We got a quote for the repair, and it was over $20,000 to dig up the yard and replace that section. We were able to ask the seller to fix it before closing, which they did. If we hadn't done that scope, we would have bought the house and had a massive backup within a year. Has anyone else had a sewer scope find something major that changed the deal?

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3 Comments

william665mo ago

Wow, I always thought those were a scam, but you just changed my mind.

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loganhart5mo ago

Saw a video that explained it really well.

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the_rowan4mo ago

Loganhart is right, that video probably nailed it. Tried a similar approach with a cleaning product I swore was a gimmick and it actually worked way better than the expensive stuff. Once you see it work on camera, it's hard to argue with the proof.

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